Giant cranes arrive at UK’s new super-port

The largest cranes ever to arrive in the UK they weigh 1,848 tonnes each, the equivalent of 264 London buses and are two-and-a-half times the height of Nelson’s Column. They are the first in the UK to be able to lift four containers at once.

Simon Moore, London Gateway’s CEO said, “These cranes will bring new innovation and efficiency to the supply chain industry.”

Moore added, “We are also working on several aspects of London Gateway, including recruiting hundreds of staff who will operate and maintain equipment; investing millions of pounds into local roads, including the A13 and the M25 motorway; and building 20 kms of new rail track to ensure that over 30% of containers can move by rail.”

This first delivery of the ZPMC cranes left Shanghai on January 7, 2013: two more cranes have already set sail and a further 19 are planned for delivery over the coming years once construction on the six main berths is completed.

The cranes will operate on a new quay wall which is 2.7 kms in length with foundations that are 16 storeys deep into the ground (50 m deep).

Andrew Bowen, London Gateway Engineering Director, said: “London Gateway is built on new land created from material that we dredged from the existing shipping channel. So these new cranes will be operating on land that, up until a few months back, was in the sea.”

The shipping channel has been dredged from 11 m to 14.5 m in the inner channel and 16 m in the outer channel. The berth pockets have been deepened to 17 m, allowing the world’s largest ships to call at London Gateway.